The new speaker of the New York City Council was sworn in Wednesday — and she quickly hinted at limits to her cooperation with Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
City Councilmember Julie Menin was elected unanimously, by a vote of 51-0, becoming the city’s first Jewish Council speaker. She said her ability to bridge differences with Mamdani would provide an uplifting example for New Yorkers.
“ We live in a day when the first Muslim mayor of New York City and now the first Jewish speaker of the Council are serving at the same time,” Menin said on the Council floor. “This moment is truly historic, but what will write this interfaith leadership into the history books is if it can act as an opportunity for all of us to come together, to calm tensions, to bridge divides, and to recognize we are one city, no matter the religion we practice or the language we speak.”
But Menin notably used her first day in the post to establish some clear boundaries when considering Mamdani’s key priorities while offering her own ambitious plan for the legislative body.
She also made it clear that she is not afraid to tell the mayor when she disagrees with him. She said she called Mamdani last week after he rescinded a series of executive orders signed by his predecessor Eric Adams, including two that raised alarm among Jewish New Yorkers.
Menin said she spoke directly to the mayor about concerns Jewish New Yorkers had voiced about his initial decision to revoke an executive order establishing the Office to Combat Antisemitism.
Mamdani has signed a new executive order re-establishing the office. He also directed NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to look at the security around houses of worship.
Menin wants to go further and create a law that establishes a perimeter barring protests around houses of worship, schools and other sensitive locations. By codifying the rule, Menin said it would ensure these places would remain protected regardless of who was mayor. Menin said she has also spoken to Gov. Kathy Hochul about her proposal for buffer legislation at the state level.
Menin, who represents Manhattan’s East Side, ran an aggressive campaign for speaker, securing the support of a majority of current Council members in November.
She said the Council would drive its own agenda to combat the affordability crisis by taking aim at medical debt, procurement reform, increasing investments in baby bonds and notably, introducing the Council’s own affordable housing plan.
“ The single best way that the Council can contribute to the affordability agenda vis-a-vis affordable housing is by building more affordable housing, not just reacting to ULURPs as we have done for years and years,” Menin said, using the acronym for the land use process.
She said the Council would look at building on top of the city’s 215 public library branches as potential locations where affordable housing could be built, as well as vacant land and underutilized buildings.
Menin emphasized the separation of powers and said she believed in the Council as a co-equal branch of government with the executive branch. But she said she wanted to move the Council away from what she described as a “tit for tat” that characterized the relationship between the previous Council and the Adams administration.
On Mamdani’s key priorities, which include universal child care, fast free buses and a rent hike, Menin said she would focus on what fell within the purview of the Council’s authority. She said achieving universal child care was a top priority and she saw the Council’s ability to identify waste in the city budget as a way to find additional funding that could help contribute to that program, citing billions wasted on no bid contracts.
“My focus is where can the city actually save money,” Menin said. “I leave for Albany the question of how they’re going to pay for that out of their budget, but I’m focused on the city budget.”
On city buses, Menin said she wants to see them move faster, but said it would be up to the MTA to determine how to fund them. Similarly, on a rent freeze for rent-stabilized apartments, Menin said that was in issue for the Rent Guidelines Board.
She did not weigh in on the question of increasing taxes to pay for any of these priorities.
